NC lawmakers approve $604 million in Helene funding, more early voting sites

On Thursday, North Carolina lawmakers approved a second disaster relief package and ordered two counties to add more early voting locations.

North Carolina lawmakers on Thursday voted to provide an additional $604 million from the state’s rainy day fund to help the state recover from Hurricane Helene and expand early voting in some impacted counties.

The latest round of spending comes in addition to the $273 million allocated earlier this month, but falls well short of the $3.9 billion proposal that Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper was seeking.

“I know a lot of folks are going to say we didn’t do enough today, but we’re getting the process started,” said Republican Sen. Michael Lee, adding, “It takes time to know what the needs are and how we should be responding, and I think that we are responding as quickly as we can with the information that we have.”

Sen. Julie Mayfield, a Buncombe County Democrat, said she agreed that the bill doesn’t go far enough. She took aim at just $1 million being set aside for rental assistance and loans rather than grants being offered to small business owners.

“This bill does not do enough,” Mayfield said. “It falls short. Speed matters. The people and the economy of our region hang in the balance in this moment. This moment. Not in November. Not in December. Not next year. But now.

“Our workers and our businesses need a lifeboat, not the life ring that this bill provides. This bill fails to meet the two greatest needs in our region: A moratorium on evictions or massive rental assistance and grants, not loans, for our small businesses.”

The spending bill passed unanimously, while the early voting bill passed with support from all but two House Democrats.

Here are some highlights from the measures that you should know about: